He knew it was coming, but for the first time in three years, quarterback Bret Meyer found himself in a spot he hadn’t seen in awhile – the bench.

Meyer, the Cyclone’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, was benched for one series as backup quarterback Austen Arnaud took over the play-calling duties with 7:51 remaining in the third quarter.

“It felt good to finally get a chance,” Arnaud said after the Cyclones 24-13 loss to Northern Iowa on Saturday. “It sucks right now just because of the outcome.”

Arnaud, a redshirt freshman from Ames, hadn’t played since Nov. 3, 2005, when his Little Cyclones team was defeated by the Dowling Catholic Maroons in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs, 31-24. Arnaud completed 9-of-23 passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

Since then, the 6-foot-3-inch backup quarterback has been limited to calling plays during practice. That changed when Arnaud ran a quarterback draw for a four-yard gain to open up his ISU career.

“The first-play jitters were there, but after that, it just felt like being in practice again,” he said.

Meyer, who was told by coach Gene Chizik last week that Arnaud would play at least one series against the Panthers on Saturday, completed 27-of-43 passes while throwing two interceptions. The senior from Atlantic shared snaps with former starting quarterback Austin Flynn in 2004.

“I just told him to make sure you communicate the play call clear,” Meyer said. “He knows what to do, he’s pretty relaxed and cool, so I just told him we’re all behind you, I’m behind you, go do what you do.”

What Arnaud did was lead the Cyclones down the field for two first downs. After completing an

11-yard pass to R.J. Sumrall, the redshirt freshman helped guide Iowa State to another first down, handing off to Alexander Robinson, who ran for 20 yards and another first down. Arnaud’s first drive ended on an incomplete pass to Sumrall. He finished the night completing 2-of-4 passes for 15 yards.

“It’s all right,” said Arnaud of his performance. “Definitely can get better, always can get better, and that’s what I look forward to doing next week.”

Chizik said he wanted to watch film of Arnaud’s performance before giving a complete critique, but was happy with what he initially saw.

“On the outside right now he seemed to do OK,” Chizik said.

Chizik did say fans could expect to see more of Arnaud as the season progresses.

“We just feel like we’ve got to work our young guy in there,” he said. “I think you’ll see a little more of that as we go. We wanted to get Austen in the game when it was a game.”

Arnaud said he hopes to get more playing time, and said he maintains a good relationship with Meyer.

“He was just encouraging me,” Arnaud said. “That’s just the guy Bret is. He’s a nice guy, he’s always going to have my back so I’ve got his too, so that’s how we work.”